1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to roll-fed copying machines and, more particularly, to the apparatus and electrical circuitry which allows the machine to produce extended length copies, which may exceed 100 feet in length.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Roll-fed copy machines such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,193,330 and 4,265,153 operate admirably to produce copies of standard sized documents which may range up to 14 inches in length. There exist applications, however, where it is required to produce a continuous copy of an original document having a length greatly in excess of that of standard documents. Documents such as oil well logs or electrocardiagrams may easily exceed 100 feet in length.
Such documents cannot be copied onto a continuous sheet of copy paper by the machines disclosed in the above-noted patents because an attempt to feed such a continuous length of copy paper through the copying machine results in wrinkling of the copy paper and side-to-side wandering of the paper with respect to the copy paper feed rolls of the machine and consequent jamming of the copy paper within the copying machine.